United
States (U.S.) officials yesterday said “there is no evidence that Boko Haram
has received significant operational support or financing from Islamic State
(IS).

An
official, who spoke on condition of anonymity in Washington, said more than a
year after the group’s pledge of allegiance, it has no link with IS, the News
Agency of Nigeria reports.

He
added that after Boko Haram killed more than two dozen soldiers in Niger last
week, it claimed the attack in the name of Islamic State-West Africa Province,
a title meant to tell the world that it was an arm of the Syria-based extremist
group.

The
official suggested that Boko Haram’s loyalty pledge had so far mostly been a
branding exercise designed to boost its international jihadi credentials,
attract recruits and appeal to the IS leadership for assistance.

He
said the U.S. view of Boko Haram, which won global infamy for its 2014
kidnapping of 276 school girls, as a locally-focused, homegrown insurgency
likely to keep the group more to the margins of the U.S. fight against Islamic
State in Africa.

The
official said U.S. military’s attention was largely centered on Libya, home to
Islamic State’s strongest affiliate outside the Middle East and where the U.S.
carried out air strikes.

He
stressed that “no such direct U.S. intervention is currently being contemplated
against Boko Haram.

“If
there is no meaningful connection between ISIL and Boko Haram and we haven’t
found one so far, then there are no grounds for U.S. military involvement in
West Africa other than assistance and training,’’ he said.

Another
official referred to it as an African fight and U.S. could only assist.

The
official said “it is not American fight, rather, it is an African fight and we
can assist them, but it’s their fight.”

A
senior U.S. official said securities were closely watching for any increased
threat to Americans from Boko Haram and any confirmation of media reports of
deepening ties with IS.

He
said “in spite of suffering a series of setbacks, Boko Haram remains lethal.

“It
launched its deadliest raid in over a year last week, killing 30 soldiers and
forcing 50,000 people to flee when it took over the Niger town of Bosso last
week.”

The
official added that the military action against ISIL in Iraq and Syria was
conducted under legislation Congress passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
and authourised the use of American military power against “those responsible
for” those attacks.

He
noted that the Obama administration had interpreted it and included Islamic
State as third-generation descendent of Osama bin Laden’s core al-Qaeda group,
but not Boko Haram.

He
said the security intelligence report about Boko Haram acknowledged that its
internal structure and leadership was imperfect.

He
explained that “the U.S.has closely tracked ISIL’s leadership, finances and
other activities, including its cooperation with other groups such as its
branch in Libya, to which Islamic State has sent fighters, commanders and other
support.

“However,
multiple reports indicated that there are no evidence that Islamic State
leaders, based in Syria and Iraq, have transferred significant amounts of cash
or weapons or sent high-level representatives to Nigeria.”

The
official said the absence of such evidence came as the administration of
President Barack Obama debate how Washington and its allies could best support
Nigeria and its neighbours.

“Some
U.S. lawmakers have already argued that U.S. aid to the region has been too
heavily weighted toward security.

The
official added that the Obama administration was poised to approve the sale of
12 attack aircraft to Nigeria to assist the country in the fight against the
insurgents.

The
official noted that U.S. had offered to send a Special Operations mission to
advise Nigerian units, and had dedicated more intelligence and surveillance
assets to help African forces to fight Boko Haram.

He
noted that some U.S. government experts warned that defeating it required
Nigeria to boost policing, education and development in its Muslim-dominated
northeast and to crack down on corruption.